The two players backed away but Xan remained where he was, even when the strange warrior drew its sword. It turned away from him abruptly and, much to John’s alarm, came staggering towards his hiding place. It pushed the crates out of the way with its free hand, exposing him, and raised its blade above its head to strike. Just as it was about to bring the weapon down in a killing blow, however, its whole body convulsed and went limp, collapsing in a heap on the floor.
For a moment, nobody spoke, and then the stockier player pushed forward and glared at John. “Who are you?”
John got slowly to his feet, not sure how the situation was going to play out. “Hi, I’m John. What you boys up to down here?”
Curly Hair snorted. “He’s a level 03. Waste that fucker.”
“Wait a minute, I could be useful to you,” John said quickly. “Maybe we can do business together?”
“Business together?” the stockier player gave him a bemused look, yet there was a glint of interest in his eyes. John had a hunch that even though the two players and the NPC might not be out and out criminals, they were at the very least involved in less than legitimate activities. “How could a noob like you even help us? I bet this is your first week in the game.”
“First day actually,” John said dryly, “but I’m a fast learner and I’m looking to make money, lots of it. I’m guessing you are too. We could get rich both on and off the game.”
“Just smoke him and grab his loot,” Curly Hair said to his companion. “That’s all low levels are good for.”
“Good idea, Manny,” the stockier player replied. “You ain’t no use for anything else.”
“Wait,” Xan said imperiously. “I want to hear what he’s got to say first. You can kill him afterwards.”
John flicked him a sharp smile. “Thanks. You won’t regret it.”
“We’ll be the judge of that,” said Manny. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “You stink real bad.”
“Sorry,” replied John. “I took a ride in that pot of yours. I snuck through the city gates and had to hide when I heard you two coming. As you can see I’m a low level, so I am pretty much fair game to higher players. I need to sneak and use stealth until I can make the right contacts.”
“You’re dressed like you’re part of the Enlightened faction,” the stockier player said, suddenly realizing. “If you’re one of those shithead cowboys, how in hell can we all understand each other?”
“That’s one of the reasons why I could be very useful to you,” John said, giving him a wolfish smile. “I can understand what people and NPCs say regardless of their faction and vice versa, but I don’t belong to the Enlightened faction. In fact, I don’t belong to any faction.”
“Bullshit!” snapped Manny. “That’s not possible.”
“There was a glitch in the system when I set up my account,” John explained. “I won’t bore you with the details, but when I spawned my character I couldn’t join a faction. I can’t use faction specific equipment either.”
“Then that means you’re no use to us,” Xan said. “Maybe I should let Rourke and Manny here kill you for wasting our time.”
John shot a look at the stockier player, whose name evidently was Rourke. “You let an NPC give you orders?”
“I let anyone give me orders if there’s a steady supply of gold and platinum at the end of it. Everyone else gets iced if they cross me, like you’re about to be if you don’t convince me otherwise.”
“Okay, I get it. Just hear me out, man, then you can do anything you want with me,” John said, edging forward, careful to avoid the cadaver lying on the floor. “Like I said, when I set up my avatar, there was a glitch and I ended up being locked out of the three factions of the game. I can’t join the Enlightened, the Empire or the Holy Seal.”
Manny burst out laughing. “Then you’re really screwed! There’s no point playing the goddamn game!”
“Shut up Manny,” Rourke said. He turned and studied John’s face. He was curious to know more and was clearly being swayed by the extra charisma boost provided by John’s ring. “Go on.”
“Your pal’s right, I thought I was screwed, but when I started picking up equipment left over on the wastelands the AI offered me another profession, Salvager—which makes it easier for me to carry more stuff.
“I also earned myself a secondary profession as an Analyst—which helps me identify items and increase my understanding of enchantments. I plan to retrieve objects left behind on the battlefield and sell them back to factions that lost them, or to other customers… I haven’t worked out all the details yet.
“The main thing is I want to establish a business that’s profitable both on and offline. I’m not into all the RPG fighting fantasy bullcrap. The way I see it, there are a lot of suckers on here just ready to be scammed, but I won’t get rich doing it on my own. I need a network of like-minded players and NPCs to increase profits. That way we all get wealthier, and you seem like just the sort of guys that could help me.”
Manny shook his head, making his curls bounce around violently. “I don’t trust this guy, Rourke.”
“I’ve told you the truth,” John replied. He tapped the back of his neck and brought up his character stats for them to see. “Here you can check what I’m capable of. It’s all in black and white.”
Rourke and Manny peered at the character menu and read through what John’s abilities were, provided by his two careers. His Tertiary occupation as a smuggler was obviously only visible to him. He closed the screen down and looked at them expectantly. “That’s how it stands, gentlemen. You want to work together or will you kill me here and now? Makes no difference to me, of course. I’ll just respawn and find someone else who’s got the balls for doing real business.”
This seemed to hit a nerve with Rourke. “I guess you could be useful. What do you say, Xan?”
“As you can guess, my associates and I have connections with criminal operations here in the city, so the skills you possess may have value for us as do your entrepreneurial leanings.”
“We belong to the Jet Dragon Tong,” Manny said, puffing his chest out. “We run all the crime networks in Bastion.”
“You are associates of the Tong,” Xan said sharply. “You and Rourke won’t become fully fledged members until you prove yourself worthy, and that will be never when you deliver shoddy merchandise.”
Rourke turned on the NPC, forgetting John completely. “What do you mean?”
Xan pointed to the undead creature sprawled on the floor. “There wasn’t enough animate spark in the batch you provided. I’m not paying for this filth. It’s worthless.”
Both Manny and Rourke looked ready to explode with rage. John quickly cut in before a full blown fight ensued and he’d lose the opportunity to get them on his side. “What is that foul stuff anyway? What does it do?”
Rourke shot him an annoyed glare, and then a crafty smile spread across his face. “You’re the Analyst. You figure it out.”
It took a moment for John to realize what he meant, but when he did he grimaced. The three of them were watching him with amused looks on their faces. Not wishing to lose any slowly developing credibility he was gaining with them, John knelt down and started to turn the cadaver over onto its back. The thing was really heavy for a character like him with such low stats, but John dared not show any weakness. He finally got it belly up and the stench from the green mud inside the circular cavity hit him full in the face. Keeping his expression neutral, he reached in and took out some of the greenish mud and tentatively squished it between his fingers—like a winegrower trying to appraise the texture of a soil. When that yielded no results, he reluctantly brought it up to his mouth and tasted it.
Manny howled with laughter as John’s face scrunched up in pain. Even though he’d only briefly touched it with his tongue, his whole mouth burned in agony.
Poisoned! 10 Health Points Lost!
John swore under his breath,
but the risky experiment paid off when another box appeared:
Item: Ooze of Animation
Minimum LVL: N/A
Durability: N/A
Faction Specific: No
Soul-Bound Item: No
Foul smelling mixture of tainted earth and water corrupted by Dark Magic radiation. Located only in the Gelmara Mud Pits
Ooze of Animation gives life and vitality to specially enchanted corpses, transforming them into Level 100 Yaojing Demonic Warriors.
Warning! Ooze of Animation is a highly prohibitive substance in EWO. Players caught with the substance by any faction’s law enforcement NPC will suffer a 30% reduction in all stats and a two day suspension from the game!
“Sounds like nasty stuff,” John said when the burning sensation in his mouth had finally faded away. “Risky too, if you’d been caught carrying it around.”
“The gold Xan offers for the stuff is worth the risk,” Rourke said. “Plus we’re getting paid by a gambling syndicate based in Bombay to provide enough of the stuff to create a bunch of these creatures,” he added, pointing to the cadaver on the floor and its two companions. “They’re organizing a big tournament between several smaller Empire magician guilds and one of the Enlightened’s more powerful clockwork towns. There are a lot of bets surrounding it, and the big money is on Enlightened to win. The syndicate are putting their money on the guilds and no one will be expecting the Warriors. These guys are the ultimate tanks, impervious to most weapons and magical attack. Forty of these dudes are strong enough to tip the balance of the fight in the Empire’s favor.”
“If this ooze stuff is prohibited, won’t the tournament be made null and void and the syndicate banned from the game?” asked John.
“There’ll be no connection to the syndicate. We’ve set up a cover story that the Warriors have been created by a group of players from the Holy Seal who wanted to sabotage the tournament. All the bets are made using encrypted software, so the AI won’t be able to detect it and the Demon Warriors themselves only remain animated for sixty minutes or so before the properties in the ooze wear off. The syndicate will make a big financial killing, and the Tong and me and Manny get a nice percentage out of it.”
“Unfortunately, the Ooze of Animation is highly unstable and unpredictable,” Xan said. “It cannot always be guaranteed to work as my demonstration here shows. If I don’t get ooze with enough of a magical potency, I will not be able to create the legion before the tournament begins.”
“We’ll still get paid though for what we’ve brought you, right?” Manny said, scowling at the NPC. “We took a huge risk to get that crud past the guards and bring it here.”
“The greenish ooze is too weak and unstable to be relied upon,” Xan said. “You should have collected the red mud instead.”
“We tried but it’s too dangerous,” Rourke put in. “You know what the mud pits are like. The red stuff is in an area that’s really hot and full of toxic vapors and scolding swamp bubbles. It’d be a nightmare to collect it.”
“Then we cannot fulfill our obligations to the syndicate, and you will not be paid or allowed membership of the Tong,” Xan said flatly. “You may as well leave.”
“We can’t just give up!” said Rourke.
Xan’s dark gaze slid over John. “Maybe our new friend here could help? You want to prove yourself useful to the Tong?”
John thought about it. He had nothing to lose by giving it a go. “You want me to collect more of the Ooze, but the red kind this time?”
“Wait a minute, we have a business arrangement,” Rourke cut in. “Me and Manny will collect the red stuff. He has nothing to do with this.”
“I’ll collect it,” John cut in quickly, “but the fee will still go to you two, minus a five percent finder’s fee for my trouble. That’ll prove I’m on the level.”
Xan nodded. “If you succeed, I will double the fee and allow you to become an associate of the Jet Dragon Tong, and we could discuss carrying out further business—though you will have to face the Tong Master for her approval.”
“I don’t like it,” Rourke said. “You’re freezing us out!”
“Yeah,” said Manny. “We want payment for this delivery too!”
“You will receive that payment along with money for the red mud if John is successful. I will also endorse your membership into the Tong. If John fails, I will sever all links with you and your gang, Rourke, and will instruct all Tong members to attack you on sight. There will be no further opportunity to advance with us. What do you say?”
Rourke gritted his teeth and nodded slowly. Manny looked horrified. “You can’t do that!” he exclaimed.
“I already did,” Rourke said tightly. He looked at John. “You better be as good as you say you are. If this goes wrong, I’ll make your life in the game a living hell. You got my word on that.”
The Tong member chuckled. “So John, there is the offer. Do you accept?”
Quest Offered: Muddy Business: Collect the red type of Ooze of Animation from the Gelmara Mud Pits to earn the approval of the Jet Dragon Tong
Accept
Decline
John stared at the message and nodded his head. “Sure,” he said. “Why not?”
He selected Accept and the notification disappeared. A second notification came close on its heels and it was one that really pleased him.
Level Up! LVL 04!
“Wow, now you’re a big boy,” Manny sneered. “You won’t need to go potty anymore.”
John shot him an icy glare, and even though Manny could kill him with just a flick of his wrist, there was enough intimidation behind the look to make the little punk avert his gaze. He resisted the temptation to check out his stats until after his business here was complete.
“I think it best we continue this discussion upstairs,” Xan said. “There is nothing to be gained standing around in a grimy cellar, and John will need provisions I’m sure for his upcoming quest.”
“Sure,” said John, “lead the way.”
With Xan taking the lead, the three players followed him through the door of the cellar and up a flight of stone steps to the upper level of the building they were in. John found himself in the back room of a general store. Heading out into the shop front, he eyed the many items for sale as a shifty NPC shopkeeper stared at him in surprise.
“This player wishes to join our little enterprise, Lao,” Xan said to the other NPC in way of explanation. “If you have gold or goods to trade John, you can do business here. You will find items that could be most useful—legal and not so legal.”
“Please take a look at my wares,” Lao said, pretending to ignore the offensive smell coming off John’s clothing. “I have much that could be of interest for the discerning gentleman. A couple of bars of peach blossom soap, perhaps?”
John ignored him and placed his knapsack down on the counter. “I have stuff to trade,” he said brusquely.
“Splendid, you will find my rates most generous. Any friend of Xan is a friend of mine.”
While john untied his knapsack, Xan, Rourke and Manny went over to one side and spoke together in hushed voices. Several looks were directed his way by the two players, but John pretended to ignore them. The three men seemed to come to some kind of agreement, and Manny and Rourke abruptly logged out of the game.
John looked up questioningly as Xan returned to him. “My associates will wait on developments. You will report to me here if and when you complete your mission.”
John nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
Xan made a gesture with his hand, which was now spotlessly clean of ooze, and a folded piece of paper appeared in it. “You’d best take this. It’s a map of how to get to the Gelmara Mud Pits from the city. They are south east of here, but you’ll have to go through some thick swamplands to reach them.”
John took the map and opened it, running his eyes over the crude sketch on the fad
ed parchment.
Item: Map to the Gelmara Mud Pits
Minimum LVL: N/A
Durability: 75%
Faction Specific: No
Soul-Bound Item: No
Rough pencil sketch of the most direct route from Bastion to the Gelmara Mud Pits
“Thanks,” said John. “This’ll come in useful.”
“You might want to purchase a Save Marker from Lao as well,” Xan added. “Once you have one, set it here in the shop. Then, if you die out in the Pits, you’ll automatically respawn here, so you won’t have to travel too far to continue with the quest.”
John nodded. “Okay. Fine. Thanks.”
“I’ll take my leave of you now,” Xan said. “I keep an office above the Nine Celestials Tea House across town. When you have at least half a pot full of ooze, leave it here in the cellar and report back to my office. Lao will give you the directions. Clear?”
“Clear.”
“I’ll take my leave of you,” Xan said and swept out of the front door of the shop, leaving John alone with the shopkeeper.
John turned to Lao, who smiled at him. “Are you ready to trade, sir?”
Trade Goods and Services?
Yes
No
John selected Yes and was presented with the Trade Menu:
Inventory 16/60 Items
Value (Gold)
Bandana—Black
06
Merchant of Death Page 8
